Is Marcus Smart’s Shot Becoming A Problem For Celtics?
By Tom Mulherin
Smart is having a terrible month of shooting thus far. Can he turn it around, or is he becoming a serious liability when taking shots?
It’s no secret how important Marcus Smart has been for the Boston Celtics this season.
Whenever the Celtics need a quick steal, his aggressive defense creates turnovers. Whenever they need a key stop, you can count on him to draw a charge or plainly shut someone down. His size and athleticism allows him to guard almost anybody in the NBA, he’s an excellent rebounder and he has offensive value with his playmaking ability.
By serving such a crucial role in Boston’s rotation, it would seem there are no negatives in his game. But then again, there’s his shooting.
Rather, there’s his shooting as of late.
There have been many times over the course of Smart’s three-year career where his shot gets scalding hot, leaving many fans with excitement over what looks like an improved scoring ability. But this past month hasn’t given off that feeling.
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By shooting 1-of-9 from behind the arc in a win over the Phoenix Suns Friday, Smart is now converting a woeful 18 percent of his 3-pointers in March. Considering that his 3.8 shots from deep per game makes up more than one-third of his 10.1 shots per game in the month, it makes sense that he’s shooting just 30 percent overall in the same span.
After looking at these numbers, it must be frustrating for fans to continuously watch Smart chuck up so many shots. It doesn’t matter if he’s shooting a career-best 34 percent from deep this season, as it’s become quite clear that the three-year veteran still hasn’t found a reliable stroke. And at this point, it’s becoming a legitimate concern for the Celtics heading into the postseason.
His performance against the Suns serves as a perfect example of just how damaging Smart’s shot selection – and misses – can be.
With 4:28 left in the first quarter, Smart subbed into the game as Boston held a 25-7 lead over Phoenix. In the Celtics’ very first possession, Smart missed a 3-pointer he took five feet behind the line. It’s usually not pleasant to see a guy who’s shooting 18 percent from 3 over the last 24 days take a shot that deep behind the line.
Smart missed another 3 just a few minutes later, and – while it’s hardly all his fault – the Suns went on a 9-4 run to close out the quarter.
Fast-forward to the 8:37 mark of the second quarter. Al Horford started to fall after grabbing an offensive rebound, so he kicked it out to Smart at the corner 3. Smart had made a 3-pointer a couple minutes earlier to go 1-of-3 thus far, so he must’ve gotten it in his head that he was “hot.” With 20 seconds left on the shot clock and a Phoenix player heavily contesting him, Smart pulled the trigger. Again.
And he missed. Again.
I’ll save the rest of the details, as most of you already know how the story goes. It’s always the same with how Smart operates on offense.
Whenever there’s a lull in scoring, he either pulls from beyond the arc – whether there’s a defender in his face or not – or bull rushes his way into a shot near the paint. Sometimes it works, and the Celtics heavily benefit from it. But it doesn’t work a lot of the time, and then Boston scrambles further on offense to try and generate something with one less possession.
In the games like the one the Celtics played on Friday against the Suns, it’s not a huge deal. Boston never forfeited a double-digit lead after the first six minutes of the game.
But Phoenix turned a once 26-point deficit into a 12-point deficit with 9:40 left in the fourth quarter. A big part of that was because Smart shot 1-of-12 up until that time, meaning there were 11 possessions that could’ve ended better. Yeah, his defense made up for it. Yeah, some of those shots were actually open looks.
Had this game been against the Cleveland Cavaliers in the playoffs, though, that comeback momentum would’ve most likely led to a two or three possession game come the final minutes of the fourth. Same with the Wizards and the Raptors.
Boston can’t afford to have such an important guy shoot so poorly over an extended period of time in the playoffs. And it certainly can’t afford to have a guy shooting so poorly take 13 shots – nine of them 3’s – in a game.
When playing against the top teams in the league, Smart and the rest of the Celtics need to be efficient from the field. That means when Smart is say 1-of-5 from behind the arc so far, maybe he shouldn’t try to bust out of the slump and take four more 3-pointers. Especially if they’re contested, which seems to be Smarts favorite time to shoot them.
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Luckily for Boston, Smart almost always answers poor offense with excellent defense. But with playoffs just around the corner and more competitive teams waiting ahead, the Celtics are going to need better offense from one of their key rotation players.